Law Center Team Wins First Place at National Pretrial Competition

The LSU Law Center team of Megan Donohue, LaToya Jordan, Adam Savoie, and Celeste White won first place at the inaugural National Pretrial Competition held at Stetson University College of Law.

The event was sponsored by Stetson’s College of Law and The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division.

Other schools competing included Baylor Law School, Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, Florida Coastal School of Law, Mississippi College School of Law, Regent University School of Law, and South Texas College of Law.

LSU Law Professor Todd Bruno, a graduate of Stetson’s 2008 Teaching Advocacy Skills Program, served as coach of the team.

“In winning the championship, we placed ahead of elite schools in the field of trial advocacy that were invited to this competition such as Stetson, South Texas, and Baylor,” Bruno said. “We also swept the four individual awards that were given at the competition as more evidence of our impressive performance. What I was most proud of though, was that our students displayed the highest level of professionalism and respect for their opponents and the judges throughout the competition.”

The pretrial competition, created by Stetson Law Dean Darby Dickerson to prepare students to be ethical and professional advocates, brought together eight teams of 32 students from law schools across the nation.

“The National Pretrial Competition is the first competition of its kind, designed to engage students from other law schools in the award-winning Stetson method of advocacy,” said Professor Charles Rose, director of Stetson Law’s Center for Excellence in Advocacy.